It's Supernautical

9.30.2011

I’ve always been drawn to water and everything nautical.  Growing up on the lower Columbia River, near the Pacific Ocean, I was surrounded by it.  Averaging nearly eighty inches of rain annually, I was immersed in it.  We were joyful when a new pair of knee boots replaced ones that made our wet socks track across Mother’s clean floor.  I’ve also always had a boat of some kind.  At the earliest moment I could play in the creek on our property, everything that floated became a boat. 

At the age of eight, I got my first actual watercraft; a traditional Columbia River double ender lay out boat used for duck hunting.  The boat was rotten when my Dad got it for $10 at a garage sale, but it made the perfect pattern and a summer project as I carefully took pieces out, copied them onto good wood, and then replaced it transforming the old boat into my new boat.  It served me for many years before it was finally stolen.  That boat gave way to another boat, one that I kept for twenty years.  Today I have nearly every way to get to water covered from float tube to canoe, raft and drift boat, and even a jet sled.  When that isn’t big enough, my friends have me covered with their commercial charter boat. 

When I was growing up, I played in the water, while later on I worked on it and sometimes in it.  I commercial fished for a spell, deck handed for a time, and even guided a bit.  I even debated attending California Maritime Academy or joining the Coastguard during various stages of my life all for the love and lure of all things nautical.

I’m also drawn to stories of the sea and I recently stumbled across a story that I found a parallel to this past week.  I want to share what was revealed to me through this story. The story is simply called, At Sea.  It speaks of maritime law and describes a ship as a detached fragment of society under whose flag it sails.  A wandering chunk of Spain, Britain or Panama.  How ever far it travels overseas, it continues to be a fragment carrying the laws, customs, and culture of its home land.  On a cruise ship, one sees this very clearly as you can portage around the outskirts of vile countries, bloody from civil or political unrest while you look at it from the distance and sip some fruity drink.  This life at sea aboard a chunk of your country might seem lawless or free from laws but it is still governed by the code and laws of the flag it bears.

Take for instance the last case of cannibalism to be tried in Britain.  In 1884, the yacht Mignonette was on passage from the place of its building, Essex, to its new owner in Sidney Australia.  The yacht took a breaking wave and floundered in the South Atlantic.  The four man crew took to a dinghy.  On the 24th day adrift in the open ocean, the four mariners, cast lots and the seventeen year old cabin boy drew the short straw.  The boy was killed and the captain and remaining crew dined on his remains as a means to survive.  Within days, a German ship picked the survivors up and returned them to England.  England decided to put these men on trial for the murder of the cabin boy.  The defense argued that the Mignonette was a registered Britain vessel on its way to be Australian.  When the crimes were committed, they were on a flagless, open boat dinghy on the high seas and in a place of lawless territory.  There was no jurisdiction they said.  The British court ruled that the officers and law extended whether they were on or off their ship, with flag or no flag and they were sentenced to death.  In a turn of events, they were then granted a royal pardon as the population was sympathetic to the ordeal.

My friends and brothers in Christ, do you see the parallel that I see? 

Philippians 3:20 (NIV)

20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As sons and daughters of the Most High, we are citizens of the heavenly realm.  We are adopted sons and daughters and members of a Royal priesthood and a holy nation.  Earth is not our home land but just a sea where we will float until we are picked up and carried home by Christ Jesus at the day of His coming.  We are all fragments of that heavenly realm here on earth, complete with the laws, customs, and culture of the Holy One that indwells us.  It may seem like a lawless place where we are free to make our own code of right and wrong but we are bound to the code and law of God our Father and that known to us as His truth.  One day we will answer for our actions of lawlessness and sin with a sentence of death.  Those under the blood and grace of Jesus will receive a Royal pardon and live in the freedom and joy of our home once and for all.  It is time to quit hiding the flags of our true origin and run up the banner of the Holy One so that everyone knows from whence we came and to Whom we belong.

In the love of Christ,
Eric

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7x7 Roosey!!! Outdoor Dream Foundation Hunt

9.15.2011



Hi all,

This week's blog is a special update on a hunt I mentioned weeks ago...one that we were really looking forward to! The link below is to an ifish thread about a bull that 18 year old Jessica, from South Carolina, killed on film last week...a cancer survivor who chose an Oregon elk hunt as her "dream hunt" sponsored by the Outdoor Dream Foundation. I can't begin to express the trials this girl's endured and persevered through, and how amazing this experience was for her and her dad...and everyone who took part in this adventure and made it possible. God is good!

Click HERE to view the story and photos from the hunt...

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Lasagna

9.09.2011

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I tried a new italian restaurant in town.  It was nice.  It was nice to be out together without the kids and just enjoy a good meal and conversation with eachother.  That in and of itself probably made the food taste better but the food we had was spectacular.  We started with fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Then we ordered a tomato caprese' salad.  Fresh mozzarella, garden fresh tomatos, pesto sauce, fresh basil and a balsamic reduction sauce drizzeled over top.  Wow!  For the main course I had linguine with shrimp and scallops, in a lemon,butter and white wine sauce and speckeled with capers.  It was delicious!  Charlene ordered the lasagna.  This is not the kind of lasagna you get in the frozen isle of the store.  It was fresh.  Ground beef, sweet italian sausage, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, perfectly cooked pasta and a roma tomato sauce with chunks of fresh tomato and basil.  I stole a bite and it was best lasagna I've ever tasted!

The meal left us happy.  We were satisfied.... content but at the same time longing for more.  We were wishing our stomachs could hold more.  Most of the way home in fact, we talked about what a perfect a meal it was.  I made a statement that I wished dinner could be like that all of time.

Dinner.  It's kind of a funny thing.  It can be so good at times and then other times just be so ordinary, so blah.  A few nights ago I got home late and there was nothing much to eat.  My family had already eaten and they just assumed I would grab something out.  I settled for a few stale potato chips and a bowl of cereal with blueberries on top!

Okay, allow me to make my point.  Our relationship with Jesus is meant to be extravagant. It is meant to be like the fine italian dinner that leaves you satisfied and craving for more.  But I think most of us experience that kind of relationship about as often as I go out for a fine dining experience.  Fairly seldom.  Instead we keep settling for Top Ramen, cereal with blueberries, or lasagna from a box, and we wonder why our souls are longing and our hunger never satisfied.

We need to discover Jesus on a new level.  We need to discover Him as He really is.  He is the thing we are searching for, the very breath we need for our survival. I fear we have grown numb to the affect of Jesus.  We need to know Him.  To know Him is to Love Him.

I'm really excited for a new book coming out this October.  You know by now that Jeff and I have learned a lot through the ministry of John Eldredge.  I have been around John enough to know that this man walks with God. He is a wise sage and when he has something to write about, I try and read it.  His new book coming out in October is called "Beautiful Outlaw."  This book is going to reveal a lot about Jesus, and it is going to take your breath away.  If you are like me and you've slowly grown numb to Jesus, to his personality, his love, his devotion, his strength and courage then I think this book is going to get you fired up again! 

May you come and reveal your true self, Jesus.  It is your true self that we so desperately need.

The link below should take you to a trailer for "Beautiful Outlaw".

http://updates.ransomedheart.com/beautifuloutlaw/

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We Can't Fathom

9.03.2011



Exodus 15:11 (NIV)

11 Who among the gods
is like you, LORD?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?

I have a room that I’ve been building for five years now and I’m finally getting close to completing it. We’ve called it the “man room” as it is a very rugged room with various animal skins, mounts, photos, antler chandeliers, rustic wood and various creations that I have built from scratch or with the help of a friend or two. It has served many purposes for me as I’ve relived stories of adventure with those looking at the photos. I have quiet time with God as I sit at a fly tying bench, rig fishing rods, or reload some shells. The soothing therapy to my soul that it has provided as I’ve sanded and shaped on something I’ve created for the room, while recovering from a surgery. Sometimes I’ve had less than fifteen minutes here or there over months of recovery to work a bit before my pain is too much and have to stop. It has been very satisfying to think about something neat to create then go through the process of sometimes years, to see it come to be.

I’ve had a number of reactions when people see the room. Sometimes just a simple “hey that’s nice” while others inspect every inch. Their eyes move about the room studying everything and asking questions. The compliments from those that understand the amount of work involved and that also understand the time period of physical trial that has gone on in my life during the time of the room’s creation. These compliments are always so much more meaningful to me than the token compliments of someone that can’t fathom the workmanship of my hand and the time and patience it took.

I wonder if God has similar feelings when we degrade the awesomeness of who He is with token worship. I know that we can not possibly fathom how magnificent He is; wonderful, powerful, loving, and majestic. There are so many huge words that try to describe Him to us. It is something our puny brains can’t even come close to computing, but as we do set our hearts, minds and eyes on Jesus, the Holy Spirit will continue to reveal that need for reverence and awe that He is so deserving of in our worship. Marvel at His wonder and His covering grace, proclaim His goodness in song, bend your knees before Him in awe as He is deserving of nothing less.



Psalm 99:3 (NIV)

3 Let them praise your great and awesome name—
he is holy.

In Christ Jesus,

Eric

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